Tales of the Valiant Wizard Guide

Introduction

The Tales of the Valiant Wizard is an Intelligence-led prepared Arcane caster. Choose it if you enjoy deciding what the party needs before the expedition, then using a deep spellbook, rituals, and a deliberately chosen daily list to solve the problem. It is less forgiving than a spontaneous caster: a d6 Hit Die, no armor, and the wrong prepared spell list all matter.

If you are still choosing a class, start with the Tales of the Valiant Class Guides. Return here for the Wizard's preparation loop and its three Player's Guide 2 subclass lanes: Arcanist for spellbook mastery, Necromancer for undead management, and Summoner for creature-focused conjuration.

This guide focuses on build impact. For spell-by-spell ratings, use the Wizard Spells guide. For character shell choices, use the Heritage guide, Magic Talents guide, and Best Familiars guide.

Disclaimer

Ratings use this scale:

• ● Blue - Fantastic. Take this with confidence.
• ● Green - Good in most Wizard builds.
• ● Orange - Campaign- or build-dependent.
• ● Red - Usually not worth the slot, talent, or risk.

Ratings assume a normal adventuring day with meaningful spell-slot pressure, a GM who lets spellbooks matter, and enough campaign variety for utility magic to pull weight.

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Class Features

Hit Dice: d6

● Red. You are not durable. CON matters because concentration matters and because falling over is embarrassing when you were halfway through explaining the geometry of the trap.

Armor Proficiency: None

● Red. No armor by default. Plan around Mage Armor, defensive magic items, positioning, and allies who understand the social contract of standing in front of the book person.

Saves: INT and WIS

● Green. Excellent mental defense, especially once Spellguard arrives. WIS protects against many control effects, and INT proficiency is rare enough to feel special when it matters.

Spellcasting and Spellbook

● Blue. This is the class. You prepare spells from your spellbook, add two spells per Wizard level, and can copy Arcane spells you find. Your prepared list is not your identity; your spellbook is.

The correct Wizard habit is simple: keep your prepared list lean and your book enormous. Combat spells are easy to value. The real wins are rituals, scouting tools, information magic, movement answers, counter-magic, and weird utility spells that make the GM check a note.

Rituals

● Blue. Rituals are separate from prepared spells and do not spend spell slots. They are one of the best reasons to play Wizard over a narrower caster. Player's Guide 2 expands this lane with practical ritual tech like Enhance Familiar, Arcane Trap, Liquid Memory, Read Object, Portal Jaunt, Reinforcing Ward, Arcane Nullification, and Time Binding.

Arcane Recovery

● Green. Once per day after a short rest, recover spell slots with combined circles up to half your Wizard level, rounded up. It is not flashy, but it smooths the adventuring day. Player's Guide 2 also makes Valedictorian more attractive because it improves this resource engine.

Magic Sense

● Green. A limited-use magical detection feature. It is not a replacement for every investigation spell, but it saves slots and helps catch magical traps, effects, items, and suspiciously dramatic statues.

Rote Spell

● Blue. At 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level, one Arcane spell from your spellbook becomes always prepared and does not count against your prepared limit. Strong default picks are Mage Armor, Shield, Misty Step, Mirror Image, Counterspell, Fly, Greater Invisibility, and Polymorph.

Player's Guide 2 makes Rote Spells matter even more:

• Arcane Arsenal turns each Rote Spell into one free lowest-circle casting per long rest.
• Summoner adds extra conjuration Rote Spells for creature-creating or creature-summoning spells.
• Spell Mastery at 18th level turns each Rote Spell into a free casting per short or long rest.

Superior Recovery

● Green. When you use Arcane Recovery, you can also swap a small number of prepared spells. This is a huge quality-of-life feature because the Wizard's greatest enemy is not always an ogre. Sometimes it is yesterday-you preparing the wrong list with confidence.

Spellguard

● Blue. Advantage on saving throws against spells and resistance to spell damage. At 14th level, enemy casters start discovering that the Wizard has read their work and found it derivative.

Spell Mastery

● Blue. At 18th level, each Rote Spell can be cast at its lowest circle once per short or long rest without a slot. Most campaigns will not reach this point, but if yours does, you become an arcane vending machine with opinions.

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Heroic Boons

Rite of the Ritualist

● Green. Expand ritual access beyond the Arcane source. This is excellent in exploration, mystery, wilderness, and planar campaigns where ritual coverage can solve problems before initiative starts. If your party lacks ritual breadth, this moves up.

Rite of the Source Master

● Blue. Choose another magic source and add spells from that source to your spellbook as Arcane spells. Divine gives restorative and protective coverage, Primordial gives elemental and nature-themed control, and Wyrd gives strange curses, spirits, and occult utility. Pick the source that solves your party's actual gaps.

Arcane Arsenal (Player's Guide 2)

● Blue. Each prepared Rote Spell can be cast once at its lowest possible circle without a slot, refreshing on a long rest for each rote spell. This is clean, efficient, and exactly what a Wizard wants: more uses of the spells you already admitted were important.

Mystic Vision (Player's Guide 2)

● Green. While Magic Sense is active, you can see invisible creatures and objects and see through magical and nonmagical darkness as bright light. It is campaign-dependent, but in darkness-heavy, illusion-heavy, or ambush-heavy games this can feel like cheating with receipts.

Verdict: Arcane Arsenal is the best generic PG2 Heroic Boon. Rite of the Source Master has the highest ceiling if your party needs another magic source. Mystic Vision is the sleeper pick when hidden enemies and darkness show up often.

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Epic Boons

Archmage

● Blue. The classic high-level Wizard fantasy: more spellcasting power and more room to be unfair. If your campaign reaches level 20, this is never embarrassing.

Arcane Confluence (Player's Guide 2)

● Blue. While not incapacitated, you cannot be affected or damaged by spells of 4th circle or lower unless you choose to be. This is absurdly good against enemy casters, minions, traps, and magical harassment.

Overcharge (Player's Guide 2)

● Green. When you cast a damaging spell with an Arcane slot, sacrifice another slot of equal or higher circle to add extra damage of a chosen type. It is expensive, but blaster Wizards and Battle Mage builds can turn excess slots into a louder problem.

Verdict: Arcane Confluence is the defensive monster. Overcharge is for damage builds. Archmage is the broad default when you want your capstone to say "more Wizard" in a very expensive voice.

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Ability Scores

Intelligence

● Blue. Your spell save DC, spell attacks, prepared spells, skills, and identity all live here. Start high and reach 20 quickly.

Constitution

● Blue. Concentration, HP, and survival. The Wizard who loses concentration loses the spell and usually the argument.

Dexterity

● Green. AC, initiative, and common saves. Initiative is secretly offense for Wizards because acting first means your control spell lands before the battlefield becomes a furniture accident.

Wisdom

● Green. Perception, Insight, and WIS saves. Do not dump this unless your character concept is "brilliant person repeatedly fooled by obvious candles."

Charisma

● Orange. Useful for social Wizards, but not required. Let the Bard talk unless your Wizard is specifically built to be insufferable in court.

Strength

● Red. Carrying books is not a build. Let magic, allies, and bags do the heavy lifting.

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Lineage and Heritage

The Wizard wants INT, concentration durability, useful senses, and mobility. Lineage is not just flavor; it is the body your very fragile spellbook delivery system has to survive in.

Strong Lineage Picks

Strong Heritage Picks

Use the Heritage guide for the full matrix. Best Wizard fits include:

• Covenant (Player's Guide 2): Great for pact, oath, and occult scholarship concepts.
• Coterminous (Player's Guide 2): Excellent if the campaign leans planar, liminal, or "the wall between worlds is making noises."
• Ironwrought (Player's Guide 2): Durable and thematic for Gearforged, battle scholars, and construct-minded Wizards.
• Privileged: Strong for court mages, academy graduates, and anyone who wants social access.
• Conflicted (Player's Guide 2): Good for morally messy Necromancers, Void dabblers, and characters with a problem in the backstory that is still sending invoices.

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Skills

Arcana

● Blue. Mandatory. If the Wizard is not good at Arcana, the table will stare at you and they will be right.

Investigation

● Blue. Your INT should solve clues, traps, documents, mechanisms, and suspiciously clean murder rooms.

History

● Green. Great in lore-heavy campaigns and perfect for old ruins, noble disputes, and villains with a brand strategy.

Insight

● Green. Lets the Wizard contribute socially without pretending CHA is a priority.

Religion or Nature

● Orange. Pick based on campaign. Necromancers like Religion. Elemental Scions, Summoners, and wilderness campaigns often reward Nature.

Perception

● Green. Always good, even if Wisdom is not your primary stat. You cannot Counterspell what you failed to notice.

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Backgrounds

Strong Wizard backgrounds are the ones that provide INT skills, social access, useful tools, or Magic talent hooks.

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Talents

Wizards mostly want Magic talents. The Magic Talents guide has the full list; these are the high-impact picks.

Best Generic Wizard Talents

Elemental Talent Picks

Player's Guide 2 adds Acid Disintegration, Cold Soul, Fire Branded, Lightning Walker, and Thunder Resonator. They are good when your spellbook is already committed to that element. Do not take one because the name sounds cool. That is how Wizards end up with a thesis and no shoes.

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Subclasses

Arcanist (Player's Guide 2)

● Blue. The Arcanist is the Wizardiest Wizard in Player's Guide 2. It improves transcription, cantrip flexibility, ritual speed, failed-spell recovery, and opportunistic spell learning from observed Arcane casting.

Key strengths:

• Cheap and fast spell transcription attempts.
• Cantrip swapping after rests.
• Action-speed Arcane rituals once per long rest.
• Arcane Conflux boosts spell attacks and save DC after misses or successful enemy saves.
• Eidetic Scribe lets you temporarily memorize an observed Arcane spell.
• Mastered Spell gives a low-circle spell repeated free uses at high level.

Necromancer (Player's Guide 2)

● Green. Necromancer is a real undead-controller subclass with a persistent thrall, broader necromancy access, improved undead, and anti-undead reversal tech.

Key strengths:

• Add necromancy spells to your spellbook regardless of source, where allowed by the feature.
• Create and command a persistent undead thrall.
• Animate dead faster and more often.
• Improve controlled undead with PB-based damage and AC boosts.
• Destroy enemy undead and turn that into temporary hit points.
• At high levels, broaden creature options and control budget.

Table note: This subclass needs campaign and group buy-in. Some tables love the undead logistics. Some tables do not want a skeleton with a name, a job, and HR concerns.

Summoner (Player's Guide 2)

● Blue. Summoner is the conjuration specialist. It adds creature-summoning conjuration spells to your Arcane toolbox, strengthens concentration on conjuration, improves summoned creatures, gives allies attack advantage near your summons, and eventually doubles down with Twinned Conjuration.

Key strengths:

• Add creature-creating or creature-summoning conjuration spells to your spellbook.
• Advantage on CON saves to maintain concentration on conjuration spells.
• Extra conjuration Rote Spells for creature spells.
• Summoned or created creatures gain PB to damage and AC, temporary HP, and better attack/save scaling.
• Allies gain advantage against enemies near your summoned creatures.
• Damage spells with range touch or self can be delivered through a controlled creature.
• Twinned Conjuration can double creature output or remove concentration once per short or long rest.

Player's Guide 2 also calls out the two-familiar route: one familiar from Create Familiar and one from Find Familiar. That is not just cute. It is scouting, Help actions, delivery angles, and a chance to become the party's tiny-animal middle manager.

Battle Mage

● Green. The Battle Mage is for Wizards who expect to be closer to the fight. It rewards defensive casting, battlefield aggression, and a willingness to make the robe a tactical decision instead of laundry.

This is the subclass for players who enjoy risk management. If you stand in danger without a plan, you are not a Battle Mage; you are a weather report with hit points.

Cantrip Adept

● Green. Cantrip Adept improves low-resource turns and gives Wizards a more reliable at-will plan. It is beginner-friendly because it teaches slot conservation, but experienced players can also use it to stretch long adventuring days.

Player's Guide 2 cantrip talents and new cantrips make this subclass more interesting than it used to be.

Void Caster

● Green. Void Caster is the Labyrinth Worldbook Wizard option for tables using that source. It leans into strange Void magic, curses, planar pressure, and high-concept arcane weirdness.

Take it when the campaign supports that tone. If the adventure is court intrigue and harvest festivals, ask first before becoming the local portal incident.

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Spells and Rituals

Use the Wizard Spells guide for detailed ratings. The short version: Player's Guide 2 gives Wizards more answers, not just bigger fireworks.

Player's Guide 2 Spell Highlights

Player's Guide 2 Ritual Highlights

Copy priority: rituals first, defensive reactions second, control third, damage fourth. Damage is easy to find. Ritual utility is how Wizards become unbearable in the best way.

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Familiars and Summons

Find Familiar remains one of the best Wizard rituals. Player's Guide 2 adds more familiar support through Enhance Familiar, Create Familiar, Summoner subclass rules, and familiar reference updates. Use the Best Familiars guide for form rankings and the Monster Vault Animal Allies and Summons guide for summon and animal ally context.

Wizard Familiar Priorities

• Scout safely: Tiny eyes are cheaper than Wizard HP.
• Deliver touch effects when allowed: This rewards positioning and planning.
• Use Help without derailing the table: Be efficient. Nobody needs a six-minute owl turn.
• Copy Enhance Familiar: It is the PG2 familiar ritual most likely to matter repeatedly.
• Summoner gets special handling: Two familiars plus stronger conjured creatures can be excellent, but track them cleanly.

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Weapons and Armor

Weapons

● Red. Weapons are backup plans for when something has gone wrong, your spell slots are gone, and the table is laughing with concern. Carry a simple ranged option if you want, but cantrips are your real at-will offense.

Armor

● Red. You do not get armor proficiency by default. Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Image, mobility, cover, and not standing where the axe is going are your defensive plan.

Defensive Checklist

• Keep Mage Armor available through preparation or Rote Spell.
• Keep Shield or a similar reaction defense ready.
• Invest in CON and concentration support.
• Use terrain and allies.
• Do not solve every problem from 10 feet away unless the problem is asleep.

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Magic Items

Wizard item priorities are defensive first, spell-expanding second, and vanity third. Vanity is allowed. You are a Wizard.

Best Categories

• AC and save boosters: cloaks, rings, robes, and similar defensive items.
• Spellcasting focus upgrades: anything that improves spell attacks or save DCs.
• Wands and staves: more spell options without spending prepared slots.
• Spell scrolls and captured spellbooks: the real treasure. Gold becomes spells; spells become solved problems.
• Mobility items: flight, teleportation, climbing, and escape tools keep you alive.

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Multiclassing

● Orange. The Wizard usually wants to stay Wizard. Every delayed Wizard level delays spell circles, spellbook growth, Arcane Recovery scaling, Rote Spells, subclass features, Spellguard, and Spell Mastery.

Reasonable exceptions:

• Story-first dips: If the campaign demands a temple scholar, occult initiate, or battlefield officer, build the story and accept the cost.
• Theurge pairing: A table using Theurge may support a dual-source scholar concept, but losing Wizard progression hurts.
• Mechanist flavor: If you want an arcane engineer, Gearforged Wizard, Maker background, Create Construct, and Summoner/Arcanist usually get you there without leaving Wizard.

Verdict: Multiclass only with a specific goal. "More options" is not a goal for the class that already owns a spellbook.

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Example Build: The PG2 Arcanist Librarian

This build is a clean Player's Guide 2 Wizard that leans into adaptation, rituals, and anti-mage control.

Character Shell

• Lineage: Human or Gearforged
• Heritage: Covenant, Coterminous, Ironwrought, or Privileged
• Background: Scholar, Judicial Champion, or Prodigal
• Subclass: Arcanist
• Primary stats: INT first, CON second, DEX third

Talent Progression

Spellbook Priorities

• Early defense: Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Image, Misty Step.
• Core control: Web-style area denial, Counterspell, dispel tools, Fly, Polymorph.
• PG2 answers: Luck Bait, Stumble, Redirect Missile, Electrify Metal, Psychic Barrage, Delay Spell, Absorb Spell.
• Rituals: Find Familiar, Enhance Familiar, Read Object, Portal Jaunt, Arcane Trap, Arcane Nullification.

Play Pattern

Prepare a broad daily list, keep defensive spells in Rote slots, use Arcanist tools to adjust when the day goes sideways, and let Spell Recall cover the moments where preparation failed. Your damage exists. Your control, scouting, rituals, and counter-magic are why the party keeps buying you ink.

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Hot Takes

Hot Take: Arcanist is the best default Player's Guide 2 Wizard subclass because its features strengthen the prepared-caster loop without demanding a separate combat engine. Pick Summoner when your table can support extra creature turns, or Necromancer when its undead themes and logistics fit the campaign.

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Final Notes

The Tales of the Valiant Wizard is still the class for players who enjoy preparation, spell logistics, and turning knowledge into leverage. Player's Guide 2 pushes that identity harder: Arcanist sharpens the core spellbook game, Necromancer gives death magic a real chassis, Summoner makes conjuration a full plan, and the new boons, spells, rituals, and talents all reward the same habit.

Read the campaign. Copy the strange spells. Prepare the boring answers. Then let everyone else call it luck.

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Running this build yourself? Find a professional game master who knows the system to help you get the most out of it at the table.